The interest in spatial relations of flexible and rigid components in the work of Kenneth Snelson has the central role and is based on some rather philosophical thesis. The merging of art, science, and engineering led the artist to investigate the domains of kinetic experiments. His constant striving was to reach the new levels of visual expression by accentuating the tension and compression as the eternally complementary elements in any structure. Although abstract and quite conceptual, the majority of his works were executed in public space which suggests that Snelson himself was interested in communication and mediation.

Kenneth Snelson – Easy Landing – image via tensegrity

In Between Art and Science

KennethSnelson was born in 1927, in Pendleton, Oregon. After leaving the army, he started attending painting department at the University of Oregon in Eugene and at the Black Mountain College. In the fall of 1949, Snelson enrolled for a semester at the Institute of Design but did not like the atmosphere and moved to New York after a semester. In 1951 he enrolled at the Académie Montmartre in Paris where he studied with Fernand Léger. Throughout the years, Snelson was active in several fields and was the recipient of many awards including New York State Council on the Arts Sculpture in 1971, DAAD Fellowship for Berlin Kunstlerprogram in 1976.

Kinetic sculptures made of flexible and rigid elements

Kenneth Snelson – Free Ride Home, 1974 – image via tomandjolieexplore

The Fascination With Buckminster Fuller And Scientific Domains

While studying the famous and progressive Black Mountain College, Snelson was captivated with the thesis of innovator, scientist, and philosopher Buckminster Fuller who proposed the agenda of saving the world through technology, an economy of means, and geometry. Shortly after the school, he quit painting and he began to build peculiar kinetic objects to further explore the Fuller’s ideas. Besides developing those works of art, Snelson also did serious research on the shape of the atom. Kenneth Snelson continued to work in his SoHo studio, occasionally collaborating with animator Jonathan Monaghan and had five United States patents.

The great efforts of Kenneth Snelson to both artistic and scientific community

Kenneth Snelson – Needle Tower II, 1969 – image via wikimedia

The Idea of Tensegrity

The works of Kenneth Snelson mostly revolved around the concept of tensegrity or floating compression, which is a structural principle based on the use of isolated components in compression inside a net of continuous tension. As a matter of fact, his large-scale constructs embodied that idea and showed that different elements can provide rigidity while remaining separate, not touching one another, held in stasis only by means of tensed wires. In general, his sculptures, panoramic photographs, or his computer art, reflect that either a structural principle or a physical instrument such as a camera or computer can been an essential element in the process of creation.

His sculptures has been proven to inspire people to new insights into the tensegrity

Kenneth Snelson – V-X-II, 1973-74 – image via pinterest

Highly Ranked Domains of Activity of Kenneth Snelson

The synthesis between technology and art was not only proposed in the context of introduction the aesthetic qualities of the forms but rather to articulate or implement certain transformative social and perhaps even political potential. The visual intensity of his large-scale amorphous structures made out of wire and steel, give dramatic, visible expression and are appealing for the observer. The apparent avant-garde sensibility reminiscent of Bauhaus or Russian Constructivism framed the work of Kenneth Snelson and proved how the enticing mixture of allegedly opposed disciplines can produce astounding, yet simple works of art fulfilled with a wondrous essence of elementary structure.

Kenneth Snelson has passed away on December 22, 2016.

Featured image: Portrait of Kenneth Snelson in his studio – image courtesy of The Mathematical Tourist
All images used are for illustrative purposes only

Useful Resources On Kenneth Snelson

Year

Exhibition Title

Gallery/Museum

Solo/Group

2012

Untitled

Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Group

2011

New York City Panoramas

Marlborough Gallery, New York

Solo

2009

Forces Made Visible

Marlborough Gallery, Chelsea, New York

Solo

2008

Geometry As Image

Robert Miller Gallery, NY

Group

2008

Digital Stone Exhibition

Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

Group

2006

Untitled

Jardin du Palais Royal Paris (with George Rickey)

Solo

2003

Untitled

Marlborough Gallery, New York

Solo

2003

Untitled

Laurence Miller Gallery, New York

Solo

2002

Untitled

Marlborough Gallery, NY

Group

1999

Untitled

Marlborough, Chelsea, New York

Solo

1999

Untitled

Stamford Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition

Group

1999

Untitled

Neuberger Biennial Exhibiton of Public Art, Purchase NY

Group

1999

Untitled

Nassau County Sculpture Exhibition

Group

1998

Untitled

Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York

Solo

1995

Untitled

Contemporary Sculpture Center, Tokyo

Solo

1995

Japan, U.S., Photography

Takashimaya Gallery, N.Y.NY

Group

1994

Untitled

Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York

Solo

1994

Untitled

Laurence Miller Gallery, New York

Solo

1994

Untitled

Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Solo

1994

Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition

Honolulu, Hawaii

Group

1993

Untitled

Yoh Art Gallery, Osaka, Japan

Solo

1992

Untitled

Contemporary Sculpture Center, Tokyo, Japan

Solo

1991

Untitled

Yoh Art Gallery, Osaka, Japan

Solo

1991

Untitled

SIGGRAPH computer art exhibition.

Group

1990

Untitled

Zabriskie Gallery, New York

Solo

1990

Untitled

National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.

Solo

1989

Untitled

New York Academy of Sciences, New York, N.Y.

Solo

1989

Digital Visions

Ohio Wesleyan University

Group

1988

1989, 1990

SIGGRAPH computer art exihibitions.

Group

1988

Computers and Art

IBM Gallery, New York

Group

1987

The Arts at Black Mountain College

Gray Gallery, N.Y

Group

1986

Untitled

Zabriskie Galleries (Both New York and Paris.)

Solo

1984

Untitled

De Cordova and Dana Museum and Park, Lincoln, Mass.

Solo

1983

The Great East River Bridge

The Brooklyn Museum-Brooklyn, N.Y.

Group

1983

Big Pictures

The Museum of Modern Art, N.Y.,N.Y.

Group

1981

Untitled

Zabriskie Gallery, New York

Solo

1981

Untitled

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Wash. D.C.

Solo

1981

Untitled

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y.

Solo

1980

Untitled

Hayward Gallery, London

Group

1979

Untitled

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y.

Group

1977

Untitled

Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany

Solo

1977

Untitled

Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Solo

1971

Untitled

Kunstverein, Hannover, Germany

Solo

1971

Untitled

Sonsbeek ’71, Arnhem, Holland

Group

1970

Untitled

Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf

Solo

1970

Untitled

Sammlung Etzold Kolnischer Kunstverein, Cologn

Group

1970

Untitled

Salon International de Galeries Pilotes, Lausanne

Group

1970

Expo ’70

Osaka, Japan

Group

1969

Untitled

Rijksmuseum Kroller-Muller, Otterlo, Holland

Solo

1969

Twentieth Century Art from the Rockefeller Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

Group

1968

Untitled

Bryant Park, New York

Solo

1968

Prospect ’68

Dusseldorf

Group

1968

Plus by Minus: Today’s Half Century

Albright Knox Museum, Buffalo, N.Y.

Group

1967

Sculpture of the Sixties

Los Angeles County Museum

Group

1966

Untitled

Dwan Gallery, New York

Solo

1966

Sculpture Annual

Whitney Museum, N.Y.

Group

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